


The Dream

by merrymegtargaryen



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 15:09:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8018794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merrymegtargaryen/pseuds/merrymegtargaryen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His mother told him to do something nice for the Stark girl. This probably wasn't what she meant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dream

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ THIS FIRST.
> 
> This is based on a 100% real dream that I had a few years ago. I transcribed as much of it as I could remember and then forgot about it. As I was cleaning out old files recently, I came across this and was like omg why have I not shared this gem with the world? So please keep in mind that this is entirely based on my dream and it was a few years ago so I've had to fill in a few of the gaps.
> 
> This is *mostly* following canon, set during the first book/season when Sansa, Arya, and Ned are living in King's Landing. The differences here are that Catelyn is also living in King's Landing (for reasons unknown to anyone but my subconscious) and also Sansa and Jeyne are about sixteen here (again, reasons unknown to my conscious self). Also in the dream they got a phone call but obviously I couldn't make that fly so instead I have Lancel acting as a messenger.
> 
> Um...yeah, I think that covers it. Enjoy! Or don't. It's your choice.

His mother had told him to do something kind for the Stark girl. She told him this every so often; he'd given Sansa jewelry, apologized for his behavior, kissed her and called her his lady. It was getting old. There were only so many times he could give her a necklace and tell her how important she was. So he decided to spice things up. 

“We're going out tonight,” he told Sansa. “On an adventure.”

“Alone? Together?” she'd asked, looking alarmed.

“We'll have the Hound,” he said with some irritation. 

“I should take Jeyne,” she said. “Mother says I should always bring a lady with me.”

“I don't want to bring your maid,” Joffrey whined.

“We have to bring her,” Sansa insisted. “It would be improper if I was alone with two men.”

“Oh, very well,” he snapped. 

And that was how Joffrey, Sansa, Jeyne Poole, and the Hound found themselves in a dimly-lit tavern on the outskirts of the city late that night.

“I've never had this much to drink,” Sansa confided, leaning in far closer to Joffrey than he was necessarily comfortable with. 

“Perhaps you should stop,” he said, trying to ease the cup out of her hands, but she slapped his hands away.

“No! I like it,” she insisted, downing the contents in one gulp. 

“They should serve this at the palace,” Jeyne slurred. She talked far too much for Joffrey's liking.

“You won't find anything this base at the palace,” the Hound grunted. “Only sweetened wine for perfumed lords and ladies.”

“I like wine too,” Jeyne asserted, in case anyone had any doubts (they didn't). “And I like this.” She drank deeply from her cup.

“That's enough, don't you think?” Joffrey seemed to demand rather than ask. “Shouldn't you be looking after your lady?”

“Shouldn't you be looking after your lady?” Jeyne retorted. Without warning, she stood up. “I want to dance.”

“I do too,” Sansa agreed, standing so suddenly that she swayed on the spot. “My prince, will you dance with me?”

“I hate dancing,” Joffrey grumbled.

“Fine; we'll find other partners,” Jeyne said in a haughty sort of voice. She took Sansa by the arm and tugged her away. “C'mon, San—hic—sa.”

Joffrey was expecting them to make right drunken fools of themselves; what he was not expecting was for the two girls to immediately find dance partners in the shape of two unreasonably attractive apprentices. The two girls shrieked with laughter as the men swung them around the tavern. Two more men even more attractive than the first ones cut in and held the girls even tighter than the first ones had dared. 

“Stop them,” Joffrey demanded of the Hound. “I command you to stop this at once!”

“Then I'd make a scene, and then everyone would know that the prince and his betrothed were out in a dinky tavern with only one guard and a drunken nit for protection,” the Hound said serenely and looking as if he had no intention whatsoever of stopping the merriment. “Best to let them wear themselves out.”

“How long will that take?” Joffrey wanted to know.

The Hound shrugged. “Could be a few minutes. Could be hours.”

It was hours. An unamused Joffrey sat in the corner and watched as Sansa and Jeyne danced on the tabletops and led the entire tavern in several rousing choruses of “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”. Some Lannister men even took the liberty of teaching the girls “The Rains of Castamere”, though not before setting them on their laps. Sansa, Joffrey was furious to note, looked far too pleased at this arrangement.

“I want to go home,” Joffrey fumed.

“I thought you wanted to take your lady love out on the town,” the Hound said, his lips twitching. 

“That was before, well, this!” The prince gestured to his betrothed, who was still on the knight's lap and belting out “The Rains of Castamere” between swigs of sack. “That's my future queen!”

“And you brought her to a tavern,” the Hound snorted. 

“What else am I supposed to do with her?”

“You could try smiling at the girl once in a while.”

Joffrey was about to protest that he smiled plenty (he'd smiled at Sansa just last week, when he'd had that cupbearer's eyes gouged out for looking too long at his betrothed. She hadn't smiled back.) when his cousin Lancel entered the tavern and made a beeline for them.

“It's the queen, my lord,” he said. “She sent me to bring you and Lady Sansa back to the palace.”

“Why? What's going on?” Joffrey asked, nevertheless relieved to have an excuse to leave.

Lancel flushed. “Lady Stark, my lord—she didn't know Lady Sansa left the palace. She's, um, not happy, my lord.”

“Oh, very well.” Joffrey gestured to the Hound. “Go and fetch them like a good dog.”

The Hound drained his flagon before lumbering towards the two girls, still surrounded by an admiring flock of men. “Time to go,” he said.

“But we're having so much fun!” Sansa whined.

“Yes, so much fun!” Jeyne agreed, giggling as the man on whose lap she was sitting pinched her hip.

“Your mother's making a fuss,” the Hound said to Sansa. And before anyone could protest, he plucked the two girls out of their respective laps and hauled them over his shoulders. None of their admirers dared stop him as he lumbered back to Joffrey and Lancel. “Let's get going,” he grunted, already making for the waiting sedan. The Hound deposited the two girls inside; a bemused Joffrey clambered in after them. Once the three young people were secure, the Hound slammed the door and growled orders for Joffrey's bearers to carry them back to the keep.

“I want to kiss someone,” Sansa declared. “My lord, won't you kiss me?”

“I should say not,” he huffed. “That was humiliating.”

Sansa pouted. 

“I'll kiss you, Sansa,” Jeyne trilled, and in moments had her arms around the redhead.

Joffrey found his anger quickly dissipating as he watched the two girls kiss. Sansa and Jeyne must have noticed because they stopped to smile at him.

“Do you like watching me kiss Jeyne, my lord?” Sansa asked wickedly.

“No,” he lied.

“Should we stop?”

“No!” he said, louder. He cleared his throat. “I mean...you have my permission to continue.”

“Thank you, my lord,” Sansa said before reattaching her lips to Jeyne's. Joffrey wondered if he could convince Sansa to do this more often. He would certainly get along better with his betrothed...

The sedan came to a halt and the Hound yanked the door open. Sansa and Jeyne, caught in the middle of a kiss, burst into giggles when they saw the look on the Hound's face. Joffrey leapt out and waited for the girls to follow him, but they were still cackling. He felt his annoyance return as he held out a hand to help Sansa down; she was clearly still drunk and clung to him as she descended. Jeyne tripped out after her, hanging off of the bearer who had helped her out. 

“Where have you been?!” Catelyn Stark hissed as she approached the group. Cersei followed her, looking more annoyed at Catelyn than at Sansa's drunkenness. “I had no idea where you were!”

“I only wanted to be close to Joffrey,” Sansa said, beginning to tear up. “He's my betrothed, I wanted to spend time with him!”

Catelyn opened her mouth to retort but was cut off as Jeyne suddenly retched. “Gods be good!” Catelyn cried, leaping out of the way. Joffrey and Cersei turned up their noses. Sansa held Jeyne's hair out of the way. 

“Can we talk about this in the morning?” Sansa asked. 

“I think we'd better.” Catelyn chivvied the girls inside. 

Cersei sighed. “Well, did she seem happy, at least?”

“Too happy,” Joffrey said crossly. 

“Perhaps we should get rid of her handmaiden,” Cersei said thoughtfully. 

“No!” Joffrey said too quickly, remembering their kiss. He cleared his throat. “She can...she can stay. Sansa would cry if we sent her away,” he added at his mother's raised eyebrows. “And I can't bear the wailing of women.”

“As you wish,” Cersei said, leading the way inside.

Joffrey turned to look at the Hound. “If you tell anyone about what you saw tonight...”

“They wouldn't believe me if I did,” the Hound rumbled. “But you have my word, my prince; no one will ever know.”

Joffrey hoped that was true.


End file.
